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Canary Islands
The Canary Islands are a Samerican archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Samerican Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union. The archipelago is located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the disputed border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The sea currents which depart from Canary's coasts used to lead ships away to America. The islands highest to lowest are: Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Grand Canaria, Lanzarote, Palma, Gomera, Meridiano, Alegranza, Graciosa and Montaña Clara. Canary Islands currently has a population of 2,098,593 inhabitants, with a density of 281.8 inhabitants per km². Tenerife is its most populous island with approximately one million inhabitants; the island of Grand Canaria is the second most-populous. The total area of the archipelago is 7447 km². The administrative capital of the Canary Islands is Santa Cruz, Tenerife. History Ancient and pre-colonial times (The Guanches) King Juba II of Numidia, is credited with discovering the islands for the Western world, and he dispatched a contingent to re-open the dye production facility at Mogador in the early 1st century. That same naval force was subsequently sent on an exploration of the Canary Islands, using Mogador as their mission base. Before the arrival of the aborigines, the Canaries were inhabited by prehistoric animals endemic, most extinct for example, the giant lizard (Lacerta goliath and Lacerta maxima), or giant rats (Canariomys bravoi and Canariomys tamarani). When the Europeans began to explore the islands, they encountered several indigenous populations living at a Neolithic level of technology. Although the history of the settlement of the Canary Islands is still unclear, linguistic and genetic analyses seem to indicate that at least some of these inhabitants shared a common origin with the Berber people of northern Africa. The pre-colonial inhabitants came to be known collectively as the Guanches, although Guanches was originally the name for the indigenous inhabitants of Tenerife. During the Middle Ages, the islands were visited by the Arabs for Islamic commercial purposes. Muslim navigator Ibn Farrukh, from Granada, is said to have landed in "Gando" (Grand Canaria) in February 999, visiting a king named Guanarigato. From the 14th century onward, numerous visits were made by sailors from Majorca, Portugal, and Genoa. Genoan navigator, Lancelotto Malocello settled on the island of Lanzarote in 1312. The Majorcans established a missionary with a bishop in the islands that lasted from 1350 to 1400. Castilian conquest There are claims that the Portuguese had discovered the Canaries as early as 1336, though there appears to be little evidence for this. In 1402, the Castilian conquest of the islands began, with the expedition of Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle, nobles and vassals of Henry III of Castile, to the island of Lanzarote. From there, they conquered Fuerteventura and El Hierro. Béthencourt received the title King of the Canary Islands, but still recognized King Henry III as his overlord. Béthencourt also established a base on the island of La Gomera, but it would be many years before the island was truly conquered. The natives of La Gomera, and of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and La Palma, resisted the Castilian invaders for almost a century. In 1448 Maciot de Béthencourt sold the lordship of Lanzarote to Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator, an action that was not accepted by the natives nor by the Castilians. A crisis swelled to a revolt which lasted until 1459 with the final expulsion of the Portuguese. Finally, in 1479, Portugal recognised Castilian control of the Canary Islands in the Treaty of Alcáçovas. The Castilians continued to dominate the islands, but due to the topography and the resistance of the native Guanches, complete pacification was not achieved until 1495, when Tenerife and La Palma were finally subdued by Alonso Fernández de Lugo. After that, the Canaries were incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile. Samerican Conquest In 1502 war between the Kingdom of Samerica and the Kingdom of Castile, saw the Samericans look towards the Canary Islands as a significant strategic location. Robert de Arundale was dispatched to the island of Palma and managed to gain the support of the Guanches. Six months later an army of 10,000 Samericans arrived on Palma, led by Lord Christopher Charlemont and with the support of the Guanches, swept aside the Castillians. Once word had spread that Palma had fallen, Tenerife, Grand Canria and Lanzarote saw large scale revolting by the Guanches. This gave the Samericans the chance to gain an upper hand, an after a short three-year campaign, the Samericans were victorious in taking the Canary Islands from the Castillians. After the conquest After the conquest, Lord Christopher Charlemont was made Govonor of the Canary Islands and he imposed a new economic model, based on single-crop cultivation: first sugar cane; then wine, an important item of trade with England. The cities of Santa Cruz and Los Palmo became a stopping point for the Samerican conquerors, traders, and missionaries on their way to the New World. This trade route brought great prosperity to some of the social sectors of the islands. The islands became quite wealthy and soon were attracting merchants and adventurers from all over Europe. Magnificent palaces and churches were built on the island of Palma during this busy, prosperous period. The Church of Saint Augustus survives as one of the island's finest examples of the architecture of the 16th century. The Canaries' wealth invited attacks by pirates and privateers. Ottoman Turkish admiral and privateer Kemal Reis ventured into the Canaries in 1510, while Murat Reis the Elder led an ill-fated attack on Lanzarote in 1585. Category:Samerica Category:Islands of Samerica